Where They Belong
by ExcellentDriver
Summary: Booth and Brennan can't sleep the night after Broadsky shot someone at the lab. Yes, inspired by the promo we all saw 3283090238903 times. BIG Spoilers.


**I was supposed to be writing a screenplay to my script class, but after the promo tonight, I just couldn't hold myself back. After long, long months of writer's block, muse finally hit me back again. **

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><p>.<p>

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The night is cold and he is lying awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling. _Dead_. A man died that morning. A young man with a brilliant future ahead of him died because of _him_. Jacob Broadsky, someone he once considered a friend, a good man, was able to pass through the Jeffersonian security and take a shot right there, in the middle of the lab, one of the places he considered the most secure in the city, the place where a lot of his friends worked. The place where Bones spent most of her time. In that morning she witnessed one of her students losing his life for a bullet, right there, at her house, her safe harbor.

_What if it had hit her?_

Just the thought of losing her forever made his stomach turn inside him. That was why he told her to sleepover at his place tonight. He wasn't able to catch Broadsky after he took the shot because of the chaos that took place when Vincent Nigel-Murray drop dead on the floor. And, for his surprise, she didn't even try to change his mind when he asked her. She just nodded her head in agreement and picked up her purse.

His thoughts are broken when he hears footsteps coming from the hall. He turns his head and finds Brennan standing at the door, trying to check if he is still awake.

_Of course he is._

"Booth?" She asks softly, almost afraid to wake him up.

He blinks his eyes trying to adjust to the lack of light, but he can see that she is wearing his sweatpants and shirt. He lost count of how many times he had thought of her in his clothes, and in none of the scenarios in his head she was wearing them because someone was trying to murder him and he wanted to keep her safe. He wasn't sure keeping her with him was the safest choice; he just knew he needed her right there, with him.

Jacob Broadsky never missed. He didn't miss his shot this morning at the lab. What happened in there was a warning to him. A warning for him to open his eyes, because there was much more to come.

The man went crazy when he found out that Paula killed herself and he blamed him for her death. Booth had no doubts that if the man had a brain, and he _did_, he'd know how much his partner meant to him, how that hurting_ her _would be the best way to hurt _him_. He wouldn't take second chances.

"Come on in, I'm awake." He says, sitting up in the bed.

She walks in slowly, taking short steps until she's right in front of the bed.

"Are you okay?" He knew she wasn't. Godammit, she witnessed her intern being murdered some hours ago, but he felt like he needed to ask.

"I can't sleep." She says in a little voice.

He takes her hand, as an invitation for her to sit in the bed next to him.

"I lie in the bed, and when I close my eyes… I… I can't…"

"I know, Bones." And he does. He feels exactly the same way.

"I see Vincent lying on the floor, and… and all that blood. And then I think it could have been you…"

"It wasn't me."

"…that it was you he wanted…" Her voice cracks.

"He didn't want me, Bones. Not yet. What he did today was just a warning." Everybody was thinking Booth had been the original target, but he knew better.

Brennan shakes her head, as if she wasn't listening.

"I think that it could have been you and that I could have lost you and I feel… I feel glad. I feel glad that it was him and not you. And then I know that it's so wrong that I feel relieved, that I should be devastated because it was my student and he was innocent and it's terrible… it's terrible…" She swallows a sob. "It's terrible and I feel sad for him, but… I can't help feeling glad it was him and not you." She brings her teary eyes up to look at him. "I… I don't know what I would have done if it had been you, Booth… and, when I think about how close I was to lose you…" She bites her lips trying the control the sobs, but it's useless.

"Hey." He feels his heart hurting for her. "I'm here."

She collapses in his chest and he holds her, the way he wanted to hold her the whole day. She's shaking and crying and he rubs her back trying to soothe her. Before he knows it, they are lying in his bed. "I'm right here, Bones."

"I don't want to lose you." She says, her voice muffed in his shirt.

"You won't lose me." He says, but he knows it won't satisfy her. She needs to know that he means that. She won't lose him. Especially_ not_ to Broadsky. So, he cups her face with his free hand and makes her look at him, his heart sinking inside his chest when he sees her puffy, teary eyes. "You won't lose me." He repeats.

"I'm scared." Her voice is small and he holds her tightly. He isn't used to this side of her and it scares him too.

"Me too." He admits, tucking her head under his chin.

They stay this way for several minutes and Booth wonders if she fell asleep.

"Booth?" She calls his name again.

'_Guess not._

"Yes?"

"I love you." She says in the softest voice he's ever heard.

He just holds her, unable to form words and unable to keep his tears. His heart is beating so fast inside his chest he's afraid he'll have a heart failure.

"I just felt I needed to tell you that."

And then he can't take it anymore. She's there, in his bed and in his arms. He'd almost lost her that morning and she's telling him she loves him. The woman who could make him the happiest and the most miserable man in the world, the one he wasn't able to stay away, even when she broke his heart.

He looks down at her and wipes her tears away gently with his thumb before landing his lips on hers.

It's a soft, soothing kiss, nothing like any of their other kisses. It's sweet, it's innocent and it's real. He feels her hand stroking his face and deepen it. They kiss for a minute, an hour, the entire night, he can't tell, but when they finally break apart, he feels the last piece of his broken heart gluing back together.

"I love you too." He says, because it's the biggest truth. He tried not to, God knew he did. He dated another woman, hell, he even asked her to marry him, even if he knew deep down how wrong it was. Loving Bones hurt, scared him, but now, with her in his arms, he knew all the pain was worth it.

She doesn't say anything, just snuggles with him, laying her head back on his chest, right above his heart. Right where she belongs.

"Can I sleep here?" She asks shyly.

He smiles, wrapping his arms around her.

"We're not going anywhere."

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><p><strong>Can it be next Thursday yet?<strong>

_**Please?**_


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